English Literature (BA)

English Literature at Cardiff has long enjoyed an international reputation for its teaching and research. But more than this: we pride ourselves on nurturing a friendly, personalised and supportive environment for our students. We aim for the best and for success in all we do.

Our curriculum offers access to the whole span of English literature, from the Anglo-Saxon period to the twenty-first century. Nor is the curriculum restricted to the printed word: we are intrigued by the connections between literature and film, art, music, history, language, and popular culture, and our teaching reflects these interests.

There are no compulsory modules in English Literature at Cardiff after
Year One. We give you choice – but we also give you the skills and knowledge
to make informed decisions from a diverse range of options which includes Creative Writing.

You are free to follow a traditional programme covering multiple periods and genres or to build a more distinctive mix of modules combining literary study with analysis of other cultural forms.

As a student in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy at
Cardiff you will be taught by leading researchers in English Literature in modules that reflect the cutting edge of the discipline.

There are lecture and seminar classes for each module and contact hours are supplemented by the opportunity for individual meetings with academic staff, and supportive academic progress meetings with your Personal Tutor.

Cardiff is a splendid city in which to spend your undergraduate years. Our commitment is to make those years intellectually stimulating and academically rewarding.

Year One is a foundation year designed to equip you with the skills for
advanced study and to give you an overview of the subject that will enable
you to make informed choices from the modules available in Years Two and
Three. Single Honours students will need to take four 20-credit modules
selected from topics that currently include ‘An Introduction to the Novel
and Poetry’, ‘Reading and Identity’, ‘Texts in Time’ and ‘Literature and
Place’, and two topics in Medieval and Renaissance Literature.

In Year Two you can select from a range of period-and theme-based modules
in which you will build on the foundation year, reading a variety of texts
in their historical and cultural contexts. These might include modules such
as ‘Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama’, ‘The Novel in the Romantic Age’,
Welsh Fiction and Poetry’, as well as ‘Ways of Reading’, ‘American South
in Literature and Film’ and Creative Writing.

By Year Three you will have gained an experience of a variety of literary
periods, topics, genres and approaches, developing your critical faculties
and your skills in analysing texts and contexts. You will therefore be in
an excellent position to choose between a range of more specialised modules
in which you will be able to engage with current issues in research and
scholarship in relation to authors and texts both well-known and possibly
less well-known to you. Current topics include ‘Norse Myth and Saga’, ‘Jacobean
Shakespeare’, ‘Eighteenth-Century Women Writers’, ‘Nineteenth-Century Crime
Fiction’, ‘The Illustrated Book’, ‘Early Twentieth-Century Poetry’, ‘The
Post-1945 American Novel’, ‘French Theory’ and ‘Hitchcock’ – and there are
more opportunities for developing your talents as a creative writer, if
you wish.

The Cardiff BA in English Literature will be taught using the following
methods:

Weekly lectures

Weekly small group seminars

Contact via Virtual Learning Environments.

Most of the assessment in English Literature is by assessed essay. Some
Year One modules and a very small number of modules in Years Two and Three
are assessed partly by examination. Where appropriate, some modules in Years
Two and Three also make use of other modes of assessment such as student
presentations, journal entries, or portfolios of creative writing; in the
final year students also have an opportunity to write a dissertation on
a topic of their own choice.

It is possible to do formative written for all modules: this does not
count towards the mark for the module but provides you with valuable practice
in developing and expressing your ideas. Feedback is given on all formative
and assessed work.

Typical A-level Offer

AAB

including an A in English Literature or English Literature and Language or Creative Writing. General Studies is not accepted

Typical WBQ Offer

Grade A in the Core plus AA at A Level. Must include grade A in English Literature or English Literature and Language.

Typical Int Bacc Offer

36 points, including 665 in Higher Level subjects to include English Literature.

The School of English, Communication and Philosophy provides its students
with a highly satisfying academic experience that assists their development
as critically-minded, culturally-aware citizens whose high analytic skills,
powers of expression and progressive self-reliance make them extremely attractive
to employers.

English Literature graduates have excellent analytic and communication
skills that fit them for a full range of professions and further training.
Their cultural expertise and intellectual abilities are valued in the public
and private sector, and in contexts as varied as the classroom, the law
courts or the media.

As a graduate in English Literature at Cardiff you will have shown yourself
to be able to:

Grasp complex issues with confidence

Ask the right questions of complex texts

Have an imaginative appreciation of different views and options

Analyse these critically and reflectively

Identify and apply relevant data

Propose imaginative solutions of your own that are rooted in evidence
and critical analysis

Do so clearly, concisely and persuasively in writing and speech.

Work to deadlines and priorities, managing a range of tasks at the
same time

Articulate well-researched ideas with the right degree of assertiveness

Learn from constructive criticism and incorporate its insights in revising
your work and in future work on different topics

Demonstrate enterprise and initiative in researching your topics and
developing your point of view

Work as part of a team, developing qualities of respect for the ideas
and arguments of others and a collaborative approach to inquiry and problem-solving.

Develop a range of communicative skills, including the use of IT programmes
and digital media, where appropriate.